A call to establish a Criminal Case Review Commission in the island has been ruled out - as being prohibitively expensive.

Onchan commissioner and former police officer Chris Quirk petitioned for the setting up of such a body on Tynwald Day last year.

Its role would be to investigate alleged miscarriages of justice.

Mr Quirk, of Wybourn Drive, Onchan, in his petition called for a select committee to look into how a Commission could be introduced, saying he was convinced it would help in establishing the truth.

But now his constituency MHK Rob Callister has written back, apologising for the length of time it has taken to respond but informing him that it would not be practical to set up a Criminal Case Review Commission here, given that we already have a Court of Appeal.

Mr Callister wrote: ’The reason we have no Criminal Case Review Commission is that, as with other small jurisdictions such as Jersey, Guernsey and Gibraltar, there is a Court of Appeal, which in all ordinary circumstances is deemed to be adequate for a small island community.

’Establishing a Commission would be prohibitively expensive for the very rare occasions where there might be a case of an actual miscarriage of justice as distinct from a case that after full process has not resulted in the hoped for outcome.’

Mr Callister explained the UK Commission’s role would be to refer cases back to the Court of Appeal in the light of new evidence or an indication that evidence was withheld. And it could only refer if there was a real possibility that the Appeal Court would quash the conviction or change the sentence.

He added: ’In my view therefore it would not be practical for a Criminal Case Review Commission to be established in the Isle of Man where we already have a Court of Appeal which in all ordinary circumstances is deemed to be adequate.’

Mr Callister said he had taken considerable time to update himself on the relevant legislation and to schedule several meetings with the Department of Home Affairs to discuss the petition in greater detail.

Mr Quirk, writing in a personal capacity rather than as an Onchan commissioner, replied to the MHK suggesting that the Manx Court of Appeal would ’not go amiss in Castle Rushen as a working antiquity - a system that needs to be brought in line with the 21st century’.

He revealed that he had personal experience of the appeal court, saying the barrister who was then Judge of Appeal had described his case as being ’trivial’. ’I do wonder why I lost my police career in the first instance if it was that trivial,’ he said.